After eating I became sleepy and was about to stretch out upon the
floor of our prison when my companion, whose name was Moh-goh, told
me that there was a sleeping apartment adjoining the room in which we
were, that had been set apart for us.
The doorway leading to the sleeping chamber was covered by heavy
hangings, and as I parted them and stepped into the adjoining
chamber, I found myself in almost total darkness, the walls and
ceiling of this room not having been treated with the illuminating
coating used in the corridors and apartments which they wished to
maintain in a lighted condition. I later learned that all their
sleeping apartments were thus naturally dark. In one corner of the
room was a pile of dried vegetation which I discovered must answer
the purpose of mattress and covering, should I require any. However,
I was not so particular, as I had been accustomed to only the
roughest of fare since I had left my luxurious stateroom aboard _The
Barsoom_. How long I slept I do not know, but I was awakened by Moh-
goh calling me. He was leaning over me, shaking me by the shoulder.
“You are wanted,” he whispered. “They have come to take us before The
Twentyfour.”
“Tell them to go to the devil,” I said, for I was very sleepy and
only half awake. Of course, he did not know what devil meant, but
evidently he judged from my tone that my reply was disrespectful to
the Kalkars.
“Do not anger them,” he said, “it will only make your fate the
harder. When The Twentyfour command, all must obey.”
“Who are The Twentyfour?” I demanded.
“They compose the committee that rules this Kalkar city.”
I was thoroughly awakened now and rose to my feet, following him into
the adjoining chamber, where I saw two Kalkar warriors standing
impatiently awaiting us. As I saw them a phrase leaped to my brain
and kept repeating itself: “There are but two, there are but two.”
They were across the room from us, standing by the entrance, and Moh-
goh was close to me.
“There are but two,” I whispered to him in a low voice, “you take one
and I will take the other. Do you dare?”
“I will take the one at the right,” he replied, and together we
advanced across the room slowly toward the unsuspecting warriors. The
moment that we were in reach of them we leaped for them
simultaneously. I did not see how Moh-goh attacked his man, for I was
busy with my own, though it took me but an instant to settle him, for
I struck him a single terrific blow upon the chin and as he fell I
leaped upon him, wresting his dagger from its scabbard and plunging
it into his heart before he could regain his senses from the stunning
impact of my fist. Then I turned to assist Moh-goh, only to discover
that he needed no assistance, but was already arising from the body
of his antagonist, whose throat was cut from ear to ear with his own
weapon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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